Daily Times

Chinese President Xi Jinping will play a very significant role in both regional and international politics in 2023. He will focus on accomplishing his three top targets includes-Chinese Dream, Belt, and Road Initiative (BRI), and the China-GCC strategic partnership. Xi Jinping, who will assume charge for the third time in early 2023 as Chinese President, performed well by presenting the Chinese point of view on the World’s political and economic fronts, and this effectiveness during his last two terms enable him to get a rare third term.

Mr. Xi will certainly expedite work on ideological vision shorthanded as the Chinese dream, which in other words means elements of nationalism, traditional Chinese ideology, and economic expansionism. Since 2013, Xi Jinping has displayed vast ambitions. Truly ambitious leaders want to guide their people’s dreams. After becoming party Chief Mr. Xi promised his country a “Chinese Dream” which included building a moderately prosperous, strong, and orderly society, world-class armed forces, a cleaner environment, and a return to the centre stage of world affairs. According to President Xi, “The Chinese Dream, a dream about peace, development, cooperation and win-win, is closely linked with the beautiful dreams of people in countries around the world.” Xi Jinping’s third term starting in 2023 will further support the China Dream.  The Communist Party of China (CPC) conceived and codified the China Dream at the 19th Party Congress in 2017, at the conclusion of Xi’s first term pledged to eliminate poverty by 2021; become a modernized country by 2030; a modernized military and global innovation leader by 2035; a developed economy by 2049; and a modernized great power and world-class military by 2050. The 20th Party Congress in October 2022 enshrined Xi Jinping’s Mao-Esque cult-of-personality leadership with a third term to consolidate full control over national security and accelerate China’s self-reliance for economic security.

More recently another initiative was taken by China as the first China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit which will affect China-Arab relations and increase its influence and especially complement China Dream. It was decided at the summit to establish and strengthen a China-GCC strategic partnership. While delivering a keynote speech entitled “Building on Past Achievements and Jointly Creating a Brighter Future of China-GCC Relations”. President Xi pointed out that the friendly exchange between China and GCC countries goes back nearly two millennia. In fact, China has a vast consumer market and a complete industrial system, while the GCC, with rich energy resources, is embracing diversified economic development. As both belong to the family of Eastern civilizations, China and GCC countries have similar cultures and values. Their peoples enjoy close bonds of friendship. It is also attributed to the solidarity between the two sides in times of adversity. Against regional and international uncertainties as well as challenges such as the financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, and major natural disasters, the two sides have come to each other’s aid and navigated through the difficulties together.

In 2023, Xi Jinping will try to achieve targets of poverty reduction and advance the cause of national reunification” with Taiwan. Moreover, Xi would work hard to common prosperity for all by reducing income gaps in China. Under this goal, Beijing has imposed regulations on the nation’s lucrative sectors such as the IT and financial industries. Through the implementation of such economic policies, President Xi Jinping pledged to substantially grow the country’s per capita gross domestic product. China has made “breakthroughs in some core technologies in key fields” with major successes in such areas as space development, supercomputers, quantum information, and nuclear power technology.

Moreover, in 2023, China will mark the tenth anniversary of its flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the multibillion-dollar fund for roads, ports, and other critical infrastructure around the world. Ahead of this anniversary, it is important to pause and reflect on the significance and trends of China’s international finance on the global economy. Thus, implementing the BRI is part of a strategic “China Goes West” proposal to de-escalate head-on conflicts in maritime Asia by intensifying connectivity on Eurasian land.  The diverse BRI projects and messages demonstrate that China’s solutions to these economic problems have varied. However, data indicates the BRI strategy has been largely successful. For example, as of 2021, China signed  (MOUs) with 140 countries and 32 international organizations, among them 46 are in Africa, 37 in Asia, 27 in Europe, 11 in North America, 11 in the Pacific, and eight in Latin America. Additionally, in 2012, China’s outbound foreign direct investment (FDI) was $ 80 Billion plus, but in 2020, it was $154 billion, ranked as the world’s number one overseas investor. As the BRI approaches ten years of age, its integration with domestic priorities has become more systematic. Among the corridors, the land-based BRI is tightly connected to Xinjiang’s development and western China’s globalization.

The sea-based BRI ties closely with the Greater Bay strategy surrounding Hong Kong and the maritime expansion of eastern China. Furthermore, China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are expanding their investment and operation in the green economy, digital infrastructure, construction industries, and railways. To date, more than sixty countries accounting for two-thirds of the world’s population—have signed on to projects or indicated an interest in doing so. Analysts estimate the largest so far to be the estimated $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a collection of projects connecting China to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea. In total, China has already spent an estimated $200 billion on such efforts. China’s overall expenses over the life of the BRI could reach $1.2–1.3 trillion by 2027, though estimates on total investments vary.

Recently, President Xi Jinping has met with more than 30 world leaders in the past three months. We see this as a purposeful attempt to “make up for lost time” during the pandemic when Xi shunned in-person engagements over concerns tied to Covid-19. This came at a price. By contrast to China’s relative isolation, a flurry in US diplomatic activity in 2021-22 and the Ukraine war have helped to strengthen consensus among Western (and some Asian) governments in regard to national security, technological competition, and human-rights concerns pertaining to China.

Despite having some challenges from the US on international fronts, Beijing has committed to giving no worth to such anti-China initiatives but influencing World politics by launching pro-poor states mega projects with local support.

The writer is a media consultant his email syeed.gilani@gmail.com